


No One Wants to See You

by Tzalmavet



Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson
Genre: Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Neglect, Invisibility
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-28 19:02:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19818568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tzalmavet/pseuds/Tzalmavet
Summary: Ninny ventures outside.





	No One Wants to See You

It was a cool Spring morning when Ninny snuck out of the house. The sun wasn't all the way up yet, and everything was damp and foggy and blue. Ninny slowly and quietly made her way to the back yard, watching the impressions her invisible paws made in the soft soil and grass.

Of course, Ninny meant no mischief in her little excursion. What she really wanted to do was to go out and tend to the garden before her aunt woke up; see all the nice flowers and make sure they were getting along healthily. If she did it when her aunt was up, it would be oh so much more _draining._ Her aunt would hear her open and close the door and, without looking up from her teacup, say "And where were you _disappearing_ off to this time?"

Ninny rounded the house's corner into the back yard. It was still submerged in deep shadows, the air cold, morning fog pooling around her ankles as she walked. Finally, Ninny arrived at the violets. They were looking lovely in their neat rows and in the twilight's dark, but she wondered how well the night air had treated them. It was still quite cold out. Too many nights so chilly might do them in.  
Ninny looked up from the flowers and into the yard, and started ambling about without meaning to approach anything in particular. She gazed around the dark blue lawn, to the cool grey flagstone path, to the little brown birdhouse, when suddenly she saw something that made her stop dead.

There, crouching by the fence, was the Groke. And she was looking right at Ninny.

Ninny looked down at her paws and flexed her fingers. She couldn't see them. Nobody could see them. When people looked at her, they looked at the wall behind her, at the floor she stood on, or tried to focus on the empty space where they assumed her head was. But she looked up, and there was the Groke staring her right in the eyes like she wasn't invisible at all.

The Groke said nothing, only stared. Ninny could see fog dripping off her dark body and from between her teeth. How had she gotten in? The fence was always locked at night. Ninny hadn't heard anything but herself entering the yard, so there was no way she'd been followed.

Then the Groke stood up and began to walk towards Ninny. Ninny, suddenly more frightened than she'd ever been before, found herself unable to move. This was _exactly_ what her aunt had warned her about. _"If you wander off, the only one who'll ever find you is the Groke, and she'll gobble you up in one bite!"_ She was horribly, horribly right. Ninny wrapped her thin arms around herself and lowered her head, desperately hoping that the Groke would just walk around her and leave.

The air became colder, and the Groke's footsteps got louder. Ninny held as still as she could. The Groke's skirts came into the topmost part of Ninny's vision, and she stopped her approach and stood there. Neither of them moved. Ninny hardly dared to breathe. She noticed a curious whiteness slowly spreading through the lawn around the Groke, like little crusts of sugar were growing on the edges of every grass blade.

The Groke did nothing for a while as the whiteness spread around her. She stood and stared, and then she bent down and sniffed at Ninny with her long nose, like a curious animal. The Groke's breath was the coldest thing that Ninny had ever felt, and she shivered uncontrollably. She hoped the Groke would notice she had more bones and skin than meat on her tiny body, and probably wouldn't be very good to eat. The Groke sniffed her all over, and when she was done, she straightened herself and took a step back, but didn't leave.

Ninny waited and waited. The sun was climbing, and Ninny could see that her own breath was coming out as fog, too. It was so terribly cold. If the violets hadn't been frozen before, they sure would be by now. Why wouldn't the Groke go away? Ninny thought about turning around and leaving by herself, but couldn't will her legs to move.  
But frightened as she was, Ninny found that time was dulling the edge of her terror. If the Groke had meant to eat her, shouldn't she have done so by now? Was she waiting for Ninny to run and spark some chasing instinct? Ninny didn't know, but she was starting to worry that her aunt would be up by now and might find her like this.

She couldn't get her legs to budge, but Ninny, as slowly as she could, started to lift her head. The Groke didn't seem to react, a good sign. Ninny's gaze steadily traveled up the Groke's body as she dared to move; her skirts looked ancient and sparkled here and there with the same whiteness that was infecting the grass, her fingers were stiff and black, her teeth were white and crooked, packed into her grimacing mouth, and her eyes...

Ninny tensed. _Her eyes._ Those eyes peered straight into her own, as they had before, but they were _not_ the same eyes that had been watching her when she'd first noticed the Groke's presence. They were such cold eyes, and they had so much _unease_ in them. The Groke looked almost as anxious as Ninny did. Ninny found her shoulders relaxing as she gazed into them. Had she upset the Groke somehow? Her mouth fell open as if to ask, but no sound came out. The Groke said nothing, and for a while the two stood there in silence, staring at each other nervously.

Then a bloodcurdling scream cut through the cold air of the back yard.

A short time ago, unbeknownst to Ninny, her aunt had gotten out of bed, dressed herself, and, finding that Ninny's bed was already empty, decided to look for her. She'd come outside, found the paw prints Ninny had left in the soft morning soil, and began to follow them. The tracks had led her into the back yard, past a withered garden, and where they ended, there was the Groke.

"Oh my God!" Ninny's aunt cried, trembling and pulling her hair. The Groke didn't seem to notice her. "Oh my God! Ninny!" She darted forward, shouting, "Get out, you horrible thing!"

Ninny's aunt grabbed blindly for her. One paw caught hold of Ninny's dress and she quickly snatched her up, and, holding her upside down, rushed back towards the house. Ninny's aunt was muttering "This is getting more difficult," the whole way, frantically, along with a number of other words her aunt had specifically told her to _never_ say.

The door was slammed hard behind them as they entered the house, and just as quickly locked and bolted. The aunt stood catching her breath for a moment, before snapping: "Why didn't you run away! Have you lost your head? Because that Groke could have bitten it clean off!" She patted clumsily at the child in her arm until her paw landed on Ninny's snout. "Aha, there it is," she said, "Though one sure wouldn't know it."

The aunt turned Ninny rightside up and set her down in a chair. She fetched a dish towel and wrapped it around Ninny, then leant down and hugged her, trying to squeeze some warmth back into her. It was only getting harder and harder to take care of her as the days went on. She couldn't see Ninny at all anymore, and every dress she put her in vanished, too!  
Ninny's aunt loosened her embrace and placed a paw on Ninny's forehead. "Are you hurt? Did she touch you? Are you frozen anywhere?" she asked, struggling to focus her eyes on Ninny's face. Ninny said nothing, but shook her head slowly.

Ninny's aunt stepped back, crossing her arms. "Amazing," she said dryly, "The Groke didn't even need to touch you to make you freeze."

**Author's Note:**

> I'll tag Ninny's caretaker/aunt when I know what she's called in swedish... hoo. The book I have just calls her a "lady" and "caretaker" but everyone seems to agree she's Ninny's aunt so I'm just gonna call her that. Next chapter should be up soon!


End file.
